1. Field of the Art
The present invention relates in general to a contact lens case for accommodating a contact lens or lenses, and a lens treating device which incorporates the lens case for treating the lenses. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such a contact lens case which may contain a suitable treatment liquid as well as the contact lenses, and is suitably used for cleaning, storing, sterilizing or otherwise treating the contact lenses. The invention is also concerned with such a lens treating device as described above, which permits considerably effective cleaning of the lenses.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Generally, after a contact lens for rectifying one's eyesight is removed from a human eye, the lens needs to be treated in suitable sequence, that is, cleaned, rinsed and stored. As for soft contact lenses, it is necessary to boil the lenses on a regular basis for the purpose of disinfection. Namely, there is a need to clean contact lenses so as to remove therefrom organic substances contained in tears, such as lipid, protein or glucide, and inorganic substances such as calcium or magnesium, which attach or adhere to the lenses during use.
As a method for cleaning the contact lenses, it has been proposed to use an exclusive cleaning container which may contain a cleaning liquid as well as the contact lenses, so as to clean the lenses by shaking the container. Examples of such a container are disclosed in Publication No. 59-24015 of examined Japanese Utility Model Application and laid-open Publication No. 63-96533 of unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application.
The cleaning container as described above is usually produced in a comparatively small size, so that the container may be easily shaked while being gripped by a hand. Therefore, the contact lenses must be put into and taken out of further smaller lens holders fixed in the small-sized cleaning container. Thus, handling the lenses is rather cumbersome in the known cleaning container.
To obtain a sufficiently high cleaning effect by using the cleaning container, the major surfaces of the contact lenses must be effectively exposed to the cleaning liquid which flows in the container while it is shaked by one's hand. To this end, the contact lenses are supported by or fitted in respective lens holders, and thus prevented from moving with the liquid flowing in the container.
However, the known cleaning container has not been able to produce a satisfactory result of cleaning the contact lenses supported by the holders, due to lack of consideration as to orientation or posture of the lenses with respect to the flows of the cleaning liquid during the cleaning operation. Generally, it is desirable that a contact lens be positioned in the cleaning container to have a horizontal attitude perpendicular to the direction of flows of the cleaning liquid, so that the lens can be most effectively cleaned.
The known cleaning containers as disclosed in the above-identified publications are unsatisfactory in solving the above-described problems, and suffer from difficulty in handling contact lenses, and insufficient cleaning of the lenses.
More specifically, in the cleaning container as disclosed in Publication No. 59-24015, a pair of contact lenses are held in respective lens holders which are fixed to inner surfaces of axially opposite lids. Accordingly, the lens holders may be taken out of the container when the lids are detached from the container. In this container, the contact lens must be inserted into a narrow slot (opening) of the lens holder so that the lens is held in the lens holder. Further, since the contact lenses are fixedly disposed in the container to have a vertical attitude parallel to the direction of flows of the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid is not sufficiently applied to the surfaces of the lenses, resulting in insufficient cleaning of the lenses.
In the cleaning container as disclosed in laid-open Publication No. 63-96533, a pair of contact lenses are fitted in respective narrow grooves formed in lens holders or receptacles. Therefore, the lenses are put into or taken out of the lens holders with some difficulty. Further, when the lens is put into and taken out of the container, the lens holders have to be taken out of the container, aside from opening the lids of the container, thus requiring a further cumbersome procedure to handle the lenses. Since the lens holders are adapted to be rotated and moved over a slight distance in the vertical direction in the container, the cleaning liquid is not sufficiently applied to the surfaces of the lenses, resulting in an insufficient effect of cleaning the lenses. The irregular rotary movements of the lens holder lead to an insufficient and uneven cleaning result. Furthermore, the container is rather complicated in construction, and easy to be broken.
The lens holders of the cleaning containers disclosed in the above publications are adapted to receive hard contact lenses. Namely, these lens holders cannot be used for soft contact lenses.